Devonte' Freeman and the "Dez Rule"

[Jenky]

Pretty clear he was clearly going to the ground and didn't maintain possession.

The rule is stupid but that's the rule.

It's stupid, but he dove for the TD. He crossed the plane and everything. It's like it doesn't matter that it's a football move anymore. IF the defender initiates any contact at all, the ball carrier shouldn't dive and risk anything. It's BS.

 

[Everson24]

They'll change it next year. They just had to make it look like they were being consistent for a year after robbing us and Dez of a catch that would've went down as one of the greatest.

I agree. This is exactly their motivation. It is ridiculous to be honest. The NFL keeps referencing the Calvin Johnson rule but they seem to forget how everyone including most referees thought the Calvin Johnson play was a totally blown call.

The NFL (John Mara) and Dean Blandino robbed the Cowboys and now they are still trying to cover it up with even more ridiculous calls.

 

[Everson24]

After the league took Dez's catch away last year, they decided to "tweak" the rule to remove the "football move" part of the requirement for a catch. The "football move" was a major point of debate in the Dez catch, so to justify their piss-poor reversal, they removed it from the rule. Dean Blandino is in charge of officiating...he should be held as ultimately accountable for the state of officiating in the league. At what point (if ever) is HE going to be held ACCOUNTABLE? The players play, the coaches coach, and the officials **** it up. Two of the three are held accountable for the product displayed on the field. Very sad.

I would have loved to have seen a federal investigation of just what took place behind the scenes to ultimately change Dez' catch (that was ruled to be enough of a football move on the field by line judge Terry Brown) to an incompletion and hand the ball over to the Packers and essentially ending the Cowboys 2014 Super Bowl run. If the NFL is so concerned abot "the integrity of the game" as they stated over and over again during the deflagate hearing, then this blatant abuse of the replay rules should have been investigated as well.

The deceitfulness of it hurts even more when you consider how our 2015 season is falling apart ala 2010 Wade Phillips.

 

[RunDMC]

Pretty clear he was clearly going to the ground and didn't maintain possession.

The rule is stupid but that's the rule.

A rule that's ruining the game.

Dude makes the catch and reaches for the goal line. That should be a touchdown.

 

[KJJ]

I seriously didn't get it. He had complete control, made a football move, and the ball crossed the plane.

The term "football move" has been done away with because not even the league can explain exactly what a football move is to anyone's satisfaction so they've removed it from the rulebook. No one likes he rule but it's a rule because sometimes when a player is going to the ground you can't tell exactly when they have total control of the ball so the receiver has to maintain possession through the contact of the ground. The league is trying to have consistency and they've been very consistent with this.

 

[Avery]

If the NFL were smart, they'd reduce the complexity and simply say ' From the moment it hits a player's hands (sans it being batted around), if the receiver holds it for one second, it's a catch.

They could easily time it on the replay as validation.

No football moves or other garbage, just the simple truth of time itself.

 

[LandryFan]

I would have loved to have seen a federal investigation of just what took place behind the scenes to ultimately change Dez' catch (that was ruled to be enough of a football move on the field by line judge Terry Brown) to an incompletion and hand the ball over to the Packers and essentially ending the Cowboys 2014 Super Bowl run. If the NFL is so concerned abot "the integrity of the game" as they stated over and over again during the deflagate hearing, then this blatant abuse of the replay rules should have been investigated as well.

The deceitfulness of it hurts even more when you consider how our 2015 season is falling apart ala 2010 Wade Phillips.

Completely agree. Blandino used "slight of hand" in overturning the ruling on the field by focusing everyone's attention on Dez not maintaining possession after he went to the ground, while avoiding mentioning that Dez made a "football move" (which, at the very least, was disputable...meaning he didn't have indisputable evidence to overturn the call on the field). A ruling that Dez made a football move would have made the bobble irrelevant as the rule was written at that time. After Blandino had gone on several highlight shows, someone finally asked him about the "football move" portion of the play. His initial response was that they determined that Dez "indisputably" did not make a football move. Then a little later he revised his explanation to "not enough" of a football move. I don't know...to me, it either is or isn't. It's crap like this that has led me to totally distrust the system in place. If they ****ed up, then they should just say "we ****ed up"...don't go making stuff up to hide your incompetence.

 

[Hoofbite]

It's stupid, but he dove for the TD. He crossed the plane and everything. It's like it doesn't matter that it's a football move anymore. IF the defender initiates any contact at all, the ball carrier shouldn't dive and risk anything. It's BS.

Contact doesn't matter. If the player doesn't establish himself as a runner prior to beginning the process of going to the ground, he must maintain possession. Doesn't matter if you went to the ground on your own or were knocked to the ground.

 

[JoeKing]

If it is ruled the same way consistently, even if it doesn't seem right, I can accept the rule remaining. The problem is, the rule is not ruled the same way consistently. The perfect example of this is the Witten catch/fumble.

 

[KJJ]

If it is ruled the same way consistently, even if it doesn't seem right, I can accept the rule remaining. The problem is, the rule is not ruled the same way consistently. The perfect example of this is the Witten catch/fumble.

They're all judgement calls and and as long as human beings are making these calls judgement will be involved. NFL Network has a segment called official review with Dean Blandino and he repeats many times in the judgement of that particular official that's what they saw. Everyone sees things a little differently which is why the league is trying to make this call as consistent as possible by making the receiver complete a process through the contact of the ground. If the ball comes loose after contacting the ground the catch is waved off regardless if the receiver has control of the ball before contacting the ground.

 

[bigdnlaca]

Freeman catch was different. When Freeman caught the ball, he was already being held by the defender and didn't let go. When Freeman went to the ground, he lost the ball and it became incomplete because he never became a runner or did a football move with the football.

To me, Dez made a football move and did an actual dive after Shields went down.